School Transfer Rules Offered

New Proposals Call For Easier Moves To Magnet Programs

August 8, 1994|By JOHN GITTELSOHN Education Writer

Proposed new rules would make it easier for parents to enroll their children in magnet programs, in schools close to their offices or schools close to day-care centers, even if some of those transfers increase school segregation.

The proposals, released Friday by a task force studying Broward school desegregation, aim to make it easier for students to transfer between ordinary schools. They also would make it easier for black students to enter magnet schools, which offer special academic programs in the arts, sciences or humanities.

Last year, applications of 350 students to magnet programs were rejected because the students were the wrong race. Of those rejected, 240 were black students.

The school district's desegregation policies now follow the so-called "one child rule," which bars the transfer of a single white student from a neighborhood school that is less than 50 percent white or the transfer of a single black child from a school that is less than 50 percent black.

Parents and school officials have complained that the "one child rule" is too restrictive and creates new inequities in efforts to promote desegregation.

"We tried to propose policies that remove some of the illogic that exists in the system," said Charles Washington, co-chairman of the desegregation task force that proposed the new policies.

Washington said the policies put a priority on improving education. The current magnet school policy was created to desegregate schools using educational programs.

Thirty of the county's 31 magnet schools are aimed at attracting white students to majority black schools. Black students are often turned away from those programs because they would increase the schools' racial imbalances.

In an introduction to the proposals, Washington wrote that he intended the rules to be used for the 1994-95 school year. But Washington and school officials were not optimistic about meeting that goal.

The policies must pass muster of attorneys, policy committees and, ultimately, the School Board in a short time. The School Board has only one meeting scheduled before the first day of classes on Aug. 29.

"There are a lot of steps to go through," said Rod Sasse, director of desegregation for the school district.

In the board's last two meetings, it approved transfers that violate current policies but would be allowed under the proposed policies.

The proposed policies include a series of complex racial guidelines that would govern student transfers. Highlights include:

-- White students could transfer to majority white schools and black students could transfer to majority black schools, if they are leaving schools where they belong to the majority race.

-- Black students could transfer freely to schools that are more than 50 percent white and white students could transfer freely to schools that are more than 50 percent black.

-- Students of all races at schools that are between 18 percent and 43 percent black could transfer freely to other schools within that range. Last year, 60 of Broward's 167 schools were 18 to 43 percent black.

-- Transfers to all severely crowded schools would be forbidden, no matter what a student's race.

-- Racial considerations could be overridden if students need to transfer to a school that offers affordable day care.

"This is going to resolve longstanding child-care problems in our community," said Irene Fertig, head of the task force's reassignment subcommittee. "That has been the most important issue for parents."

The proposed policy also would encourage parents to enroll their children in schools near their workplaces, as long as those transfers would not increase racial segregation at the sending or receiving school.

All transfers would be monitored by a central district office to make sure that racial guidelines are met. The office also could serve as a counseling center to help parents resolve day-care issues, Fertig said.

School officials have not calculated the number of students who would qualify for transfers under the proposed policies.